For this post, I would like to discuss the chapter in Van der Leeuw’s book, Sacred and Profane Beauty, on Harmony within a religious dance. I agree with Van der Leeuw when he says, “It is possible for beauty and holiness to interpenetrate so that one must speak of a harmony” (67). I think that most art that is created in a holy purpose can be beautiful as well. Dance is of course one of the forms of art that can harmonize with holiness. If a person is to perform a sacred dance, then he or she has to be one with the heavens in order to perform it correctly. There has to be some sort of communication between the two that unifies them in the performance of the dance. The most beautiful dances are the ones where the dancer(s) are unified with the heavens. Dance, like many other forms of art, can open a pathway to the heavens that the dancer can use to communicate with the gods that then use the person’s body as an instrument to carry out the dance. Van der Leeuw points this out with the Indian dances that he has witnessed.
Van der Leeuw describes what the dancer feels once that path to the heavens is opened, “The body has completely become an instrument. Often almost motionless, but always in the highest degree expressive, the body is as far separated as is possible from what we in the West call ‘sensuality.’” (67). According to this, once the dancer has opened the pathway to the heavens and communicated with the gods, the dancer has transcended his or her reality. The dancer cannot feel his or her body because he or she has transcended to the heavens to harmonize and become one with the gods. Once this happens the person cannot feel sensation anymore. The body reacts to the unified consciousness that has been created from communicating with the gods and harmonizing with them.
I think this idea that Van der Leeuw gives us works well with the dances that we were shown in class. Let’s discuss the walking meditation one in particular. The Buddhist monk walked down a sidewalk in a very populated city. He was completely engrossed in his meditation. He had opened the pathway to the heavens and transcended his reality, which was the people walking all around him. He harmonized with the heavens in order to perform his dance. He was also allowing others to become harmonized in the dance by giving him donations in the bowl that he carried with him. By supporting him with donations, one could share in that harmonizing with the heavens that he had accomplished.
That example, along with the example of the Indian dances that Van der Leeuw gave, goes along with the following statement that Leeuw makes, “The surrender of oneself to a stronger power, the unification of one’s own movements with the movement of the whole, is what makes dance religious and lets it become a service of God” (68). In the Indian dances, the dancers give up their bodies to the gods when they open that path to the heavens. In order to unify and harmonize with the gods, one must be willing to give up one’s own body to a stronger power. There must be a lot of faith put into the gods that one is giving one’s own body too. This is why Leeuw says that dance can be religious. If the person has enough faith in the gods to give up his or her own body to the stronger power then that dance should certainly be considered religious. This works with the example with the Buddhist monk’s dance. He was willing to give up his own body to a stronger power in order to perform the sacred walking meditation. He also was willing to do this to help the other people reach enlightenment as well. The other people could share in his transcendence by giving him some donation in the bowl that he carried around. This chapter gives an excellent explanation as to how a dance, or any form of art really, could become religious, and I would have to agree with many of Van der Leeuw’s statements in this chapter.
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